


Lightbringer

by Mayonne



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Adventure, Because of Reasons, Bonding, F/M, Good versus Evil, Hurt/Comfort, Learning to Work Together, Light Spirits, Magic, Mutual Pining, OoT references, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SS references, Self-Improvement, Spirits, Strangers to Friends, emotional frustrations, everyone has elf ears dangit!, except for the heroine, friends to lovers?, slight story changes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 03:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14824793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayonne/pseuds/Mayonne
Summary: Becoming the vessel to the Northern Light wasn't something Sam expected, or wanted. Nor was her being thrown into a world she didn't know. She only wanted to go home, but instead she encounters a wolf - a warrior - that sparks an adventure, and along the way they both learn the importance of their roles as lightbringers.





	1. The Northern Light

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to work on a Twilight Princess based story for a long time. In fact, this is the third take on my trying to write this story, each attempt trying to make it better than the last. I think I finally got it to where I want it to be, so now it's just a matter of writing out the story in full. 
> 
> Some inspiration also came from Shapeshifting, by Great Good Fine Okay
> 
> Enjoy the ride!

If it were any more peaceful she would fall asleep where she sat. 

Thoroughly enjoying the benefits of summer after having finished her first year of college Sam sat, her legs stretched out in front of her, in the beach chair. The unobstructed sunlight had quickly warmed her legs as they peeked out from under the shade of the umbrella until she had to cover them with her towel to keep them from outright burning. And though the sun wasn't directly on her face she still had a large set of sunglasses to further protect her eyes, which were looking down and reading a book. It was one of those mass market paperbacks she found when she ran to the grocery store for her mom the other week. 

Before her the emerald and turquoise colored waters of the Gulf of Mexico stretched out on either side of the horizon, the sun gleaming harshly on the waves. The sound of the waves themselves sighed as they rolled onto the shore and pulled away, the rhythm sounding like the ocean itself was breathing. It was a sound she had grown up with all her life and still appreciated, especially when she had to be much further inland during the semesters as she studied. That, and the general quiet along the series of private beaches was a welcome change of pace in comparison to the activity of her life during college. 

Eventually, sometime in the late afternoon, Sam rose from her place and casually made her way back to her family's beach house. There were a number of them lining the shore, some of them rented out while others were private residences like hers was. Though the ocean breeze kept her from feeling too hot while she was out the overall power of the sun left her sweating lightly and a break in the air-conditioned house would help to fully cool her off. 

"Hey, sweetie, you done for the day?" asked her mother as Sam slid the glass doors closed. Those doors led out to the wooden back patio, which had their own set of stairs leading down towards the sand. Her mother appeared to have just returned from being outside herself, sorting through plastic bags of groceries and a styrofoam box that Sam had come to know held choice cuts of fish and possibly shrimp. 

"Nah, just taking a break," she replied, squeezing past into the kitchen and getting a cold glass of water to cool herself further. "That everything for dinner tomorrow?"

"Yes, it is. You excited?"

"Oh yes," Sam said with a smile. "Looking forward to that fish," she added in a near sing-song tone of voice.

Her mother smiled back then resumed her task of going through the bags and putting everything away in either the fridge, freezer, or pantry cabinets. "Sweetie, could you turn the tv on for me? I think it's still on the news channel from last night."

"Wha—again?" Sam quietly huffed and rolled her eyes, but did as instructed. 

For one second the sound came first before the actual image appeared. It was a commercial right then, so neither of the women tuned in and instead let the sounds of the jingle and the announcer's going off about the featured product simply go over their heads. A few minutes later the actual news returned from its break and Sam's mother brought her eyes back up to watch. A little curious herself Sam looked over her shoulder, as her back was to the television screen, and glanced in the same direction.

Both women shared one distinct characteristic: the color of their eyes. Both had intense blue eyes, dark towards the edges of the iris that lightened as the color made its way towards the center. Not only that, there were splashes of bright green around their irises, turning the overall color of their eyes turquoise.  


There were other, smaller, characteristics Sam had inherited from her mother that combined with the genetics from her father. The result was her having light blonde hair that darkened to a dusty color near the roots, and much of her body being covered in freckles. Large clusters of freckles were found on her face, shoulders, and legs. 

“Scientists are still trying to explain the recent increase in aurora sightings, as well as their odd locations. Normally, an aurora borealis—or northern light—can only be seen within a particular range of the North Pole. But sightings and reports of the aurora have been noted further and further south. Some believe that perhaps the shift in poles is finally happening, while—“

“Well, it would certainly be something to maybe see an aurora down here,” Sam’s mother commented.

“It would,” Sam agreed, stretching. “If I’m not already asleep I might take some pictures of it, if it does show up.”

“Wouldn’t a video be better?”

“That too.” Sam’s mother smirked and restrained a snort. “Anyway, I’m heading back out to the beach.”

“Take your phone with you. I’ll call or text when I get started on dinner,” her mother said. 

“Will do. See you in a bit.”

The rest of her afternoon was as quiet as it had been before. Sam would lounge for a few hours as she continued to read, dip into the waves of the ocean until they churned at her hips to cool down, and then sit herself back down to resume where she left off in her book. Eventually, as the sun began to disappear beyond the horizon, turning the sky gentle hues of blue, purple, and pink that she got a text from her mom. Her phone vibrated and the bright illumination of the touch screen was enough for her to take notice in comparison to the darkening shore. After replying Sam gathered all her things and headed back inside, content for the day.

∙ ∙ ∙

It was a little past midnight when she and her family finally settled down from their evening activities and turned in for the night. Sam’s room, as she went about her nightly routine, was the best in the house—in her opinion. Large windows looked backwards, out towards the shore, giving her a wide view any time she wished. One of those windows was almost never closed either, as she liked to leave it cracked open so the sound of the waves could enter her room and lull her into a continual sense of peace for as long as she lingered within.  


She was nearly asleep when a soft, flickering light grew and lingered just bright enough for her to notice through her closed eyes. She wanted to ignore it, thinking it might be an idling dune buggy from a patrolling lifeguard, but her curiosity got the better of her and she looked to see what was causing the illumination. Her eyes widened in wonder when she saw that the light wasn’t even artificial. Glowing in gentle hues, streaking across the sky, was an aurora.

“No way,” she breathed, quickly throwing her covers off and leaving her bed to stare out the window at it. 

The colors reflected on the shallow water of the gulf’s shore in shifting shades of green, blue, and purple, accented by the gleam of moonlight as the waves continued to roll onto the sand. She stared for what felt like eons as the northern lights, appearing far too south to be natural, but as she looked she thought she saw them shift, gather, and then take shape. Her expression changed to one of confusion thinking maybe she had been seeing things, but the aurora continued to form until it looked like some sort of creature.

Standing on the water, head held high and its wide antlers standing higher still, was what appeared to be some great elk. The collected light of the aurora seeped from it in its usual streaks and strands and eventually dissipated entirely into colorful, twinkling sparks. Sam’s mouth gaped open at the sight of it, while she subconsciously pressed herself closer to the window as if a part of her wanted to reach out to it through the glass. Its head shifted and although there were no details save for the illuminated silhouette she felt like it was looking right at her.

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart beat so hard in her chest that it almost hurt. Another moment passed and she felt some inexplicable pull, drawing her to the figure. She pushed herself away from the window and tore through the house as she left it behind to reach the shore, a gleam in her eye as if she were in a trance, either not caring or unaware of the fact that she was still in her nightshirt and barefoot. Her footfalls thumped on the wood of the walkway, her feet sank into the sand, and she didn’t stop until she was wading ankle deep into the water, staring straight back at the creature of light.

No ripples appeared on the water as the creature approached and bowed its head towards her. She reached her hands up in the gesture to touch its muzzle, but before she made contact she came back to herself, looking around in bewilderment before she turned her attention back to it.

“What the…? What? What are you?”

“I am the Northern Light. I am Ealis.”

“How are you like this?” she asked, finally resting her hands on the creature’s snout. There was no texture, only a gentle warmth and a curious tingling sensation that travelled from her hands, up her arms, past her shoulders, and all the way into her center. “How are you real?”

“I always have been. The auroras that cover this world are the work of my brother and I in protecting it. But there is a darkness growing that threatens any, and all, light. We cannot afford to be lost, else this world and all life on it be expunged.”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about?”

“I called to many, but only you came to me. I will make you the Vessel of Light, and within you will be the hope of this world.”

Sam sputtered, stepping back. “This doesn’t make any sense! I must be dreaming, right? I’m going to wake up and tell myself that all this was just some weird dream.”

“This is no dream,” Ealis replied, nudging her. “This is real, as real as the danger that threatens the worlds of light. Our light cannot be lost. You must stay safe, far away.”

“I don’t—“ 

Sam was unable to finish her sentence when she gasped, the light forming the great elk that was Ealis breaking apart into the streaks of colored light she was familiar with and wrapped around her instead. The light seeped past her skin and turned her delicately sun-kissed tone those same colors of green, purple, and blue. Light filled her vision, turning everything white, but she wasn’t blinded by it. Through it all was a floating sensation not unlike her keeping herself under water. It then ended suddenly with the new feeling of plummeting and a hard splash into water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm open for [ Portrait Commissions! ](http://jarofmayonnaise.tumblr.com/post/175431863148/portrait-commissions-open)
> 
> Leave me a message~


	2. Ordon Village

Sam gasped and sputtered as she broke the surface, floundering for a moment before finding shallow water and crawling out. Almost immediately she noticed that there was something strange happening—moreso than what had just happened to her (which she wasn’t sure whether or not to believe actually did happen). Rather than the familiar granular feeling of white sands against her hands and knees she saw algae and grasses just below the water. There was no constant sighing sound of the waves lapping against the shore either, only the rippling and occasional sloshing of it. She was soaked through, her excessively baggy nightshirt now dripping and clinging to her skin. The soft grasses at her feet felt strange and tickled at her skin. 

After pulling herself to her feet she looked up and found an open gate before her, the lowest portions of the wood making it up getting obscured by moss and flowers. Further beyond it were tall, thick trees, and a worn path through the dirt that led either left or right, but her observation was set aside when she felt a ray of warmth spread against her back.

She looked behind her and found what, at first, looked like a miniature sun. But a second later that sphere was surrounded by circular horns. Those horns connected to a beast’s body with a tail the size of a boulder gently swaying back and forth behind it. The beast, made entirely of light, like Ealis had been, stood just barely above the surface of the water. The light cradled within its horns shone brightly illuminating the area around it as if it were noonday, yet as bright as it was Sam’s eyes weren’t bothered by it and she could gaze steadily into the sphere there. 

What she never noticed, as she stared, was how her own body dissolved into thin threads of auroras here and there.

“What are you?” she asked.

“I am Ordona, one of the four spirits of light tasked with the duty of watching over this land.”

“Ordona? What happened to that other one—Ealis? What land?”

“Where you stand is a region within a greater country called Hyrule.”

“Hyr—“ 

Sputtering again, wrapping her arms around herself tightly, she turned from the spirit and stood in the middle of the little road just beyond the spring. To her right the path led deeper into a thicket that eventually turned and disappeared to somewhere; to her left there was a bridge crossing a ravine. That same path stopped suddenly, not much further from the bridge, as a black wall rose from the ground and high into the sky. As inky black as it was Sam could barely make out the dim glow of symbols unknown to her. The longer she looked at it the more it unsettled her. With a shiver she turned and went back towards Ordona, her feet splashing into the shallow shore of the spring.

“What happened to me?!” she yelled with far greater power and panic than she expected of herself.

Still shivering, now mostly out of the rising anxiety rather than the cold air, and her breathing going short, she watched as the spirit took a step forward and touched its muzzle to her. The thin strands of aurora light strengthened into streaks more like the northern lights themselves at the creature’s touch. Sam squeezed her eyes shut and fought to keep herself from bursting into tears. All the emotions swirling around within her threatened to drag her down into an emotional breakdown, but it was like trying to keep oneself from being swallowed in a vortex.

“You bear a light like my own. You were brought here for a reason, but all I can sense is that of fear, worry. Something in the origin of the light you bear feared the approach of some power, but I do not know beyond these…vague emotions.”

“If it sent me here, then maybe you can send me back. Take me home, please!”

“I cannot.”

“Why?” Sam retorted immediately.

“Shadow has enveloped this place, and I am all that remains.” She didn’t know why, but his mention of shadow made her recall the strange wall not far from the bridge. The thought of it made her shiver again. “I am not strong enough to push past this shadow and send you back to where you belong."

"Is there no way for me to go back?"

"Only when all our lights are restored, and this power dispelled, would we spirits be able to send you back."

She was angry, she was confused, she was desperate. She didn’t know which of these emotions to feel, so she cried. It started as a trembling lip that she bit to try and still, then into whimpers, before heaving sobs wracked her body. This was all so sudden... Ordona nudged her again with its muzzle, but she made no move in reaction and continued to cry.

“I am sorry I cannot give you what you ask. But perhaps this may give you some comfort. Follow the path into the thicket; it will lead you to the village named after me. The people there are humble and kind. They will shelter you.”

Sam sniffled, rubbing her eyes with her hands to try and wipe away the tears that still pooled and spilled from them. She wanted to retort but nothing came to her in her emotional state. Honestly, she had no other options in this strange land she had been thrown into, so she heeded his words and quietly nodded her head. Ordona nodded its own great head and then dissipated into streams and sparks of light until the area around the girl faded back to the natural light. Sam looked above her noting how it was just past twilight and was steadily approaching full dark. Without street lights or anything else to guide her feet, other than the fading glow of the sun through the trees, Sam turned and made her way down the path. 

The path was well worn so she didn’t have much trouble navigating it, save for stepping on the occasional small rock and leaving her muttering under breath at the discomfort it gave her bare feet. But, soon enough, she descended down a slope that led into a small village with few people out in the fading light. All the homes were well built, if simple, with a small pond behind them and a decent sized field further in front of her. Sam thought she recognized pumpkins, along with other gourd-like vegetables, growing there amidst the vines and foliage. The houses continued as they wrapped around a curve in the earth, and a steeper slope heading up towards some other type of establishment was easily seen on the opposite end of where she stood. 

Warm lights glowed from the windows of each building in the village, and due to there being a lack of the sound of waves, she heard a different kind of sound filled silence. There was the quiet rustling of leaves in the trees as breezes passed through, making the branches bend and sway. There were the sounds of bugs chirping as well as the occasional bird singing its last song while sunlight was still available. Any birds that took flight were quick, almost shadows, that disappeared just as fast. Like at the pool where she met the spirit, she could also hear the sloshing of the pond’s water against the earthy shore in the distance. It was all such a different kind of tranquility that she remained where she stood, looking around with her mouth slightly open as a sense of wonder overtook her momentarily. 

Sam shivered in the cooling air and wrapped her arms around herself in a vain attempt to keep herself warm despite her still being covered in her soaked nightshirt. She had barely taken another few steps into the village when she heard voices and footsteps pounding the earth. Unknowing what to expect she froze and stared with wide eyes as a group of adults came up to her, some of them bearing torches to light their way through the evening shadows. Her expression shifted, however, when she saw how one man was far more beaten and wounded than the rest. 

“Who’s there? Colin? Is that you, son?”

“Beth, sweetheart?”

“Boys? Malo? Talo?” 

“Ilia?” 

Sam flinched and stepped back as they drew closer, but once the light of their torches was enough to illuminate both her and the group there was a tangible feeling of disappointment. Shoulders sagged and hopeful expressions were lost as they looked at the girl, though it was quickly exchanged for curiosity.

“Who’s this?” a shapely woman asked from the back of the small group. 

“I… M-my name is Sam,” the girl replied, her teeth beginning to chatter as a light breeze passed by, feeling so much colder due to her clothes. 

“Sam…” the wounded man repeated gently. He held the torch a little higher so its light could be better cast around them. He took a step forward, looking hopeful, despite one of his eyes being swollen and bruised. Other wounds he bore included a busted lip, and a claw-like scratch across the majority of his right cheek. “Tell me, have you seen any children? A young woman, likely your age, and a few smaller ones? Or Link? A young man, also about your age.”

“What? No, I haven’t…I don’t even know wh—“

“Is that our boy? Colin?” a new voice called out from further into the village. 

The group of adults turned behind them to reveal a woman slowly making her way towards them. One hand was raised to her heart while the other was pressed to her growing belly. 

“Uli, you shouldn’t be out here,” the wounded man said, his voice going gentle as he approached the woman. Sam noticed his equally gentle touch as the two of them drew close. She assumed they were husband and wife. 

“I heard everyone calling out, and I thought…I hoped…”

“It’s not them, I’m sorry.” The man turned again, bringing his focus back to Sam and thus bringing everyone else’s attention to her. The girl curled in a little on herself at their gazes. “This young woman appeared instead. You said your name was Sam, yes?”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Uli said as she stepped closer. “Look at you, barely dressed and no shoes.” She reached out and touched at the girl’s clothes then touched her cheek to make their eyes meet. “And wet as well. You must be freezing.”

Sam opened her mouth as if to say something but couldn’t find her voice. Instead, it hung open for a moment before she dumbly closed it again. In the end, all she did was stare back at the woman and shiver where she stood. What could she say to her? To these people? Any explanation would likely make them think she was insane. She still had half a mind to think that she actually was. Regardless, in those dark colored eyes Sam saw unwavering compassion. 

Uli brought her eyes away and looked back to her husband. “Rusl, I’m taking her inside. We need to get her out of these and properly dressed.” 

“She’ll stay with us then? She can’t go travelling in the dark, or with those things possibly still out there.” 

The girl’s head shifted back and forth as she watched the conversation between the two of them. The other adults, despite their curiosity, went back to looking disappointed and had already headed back towards their homes. It startled her that the couple spoke so easily of taking her in despite her appearing out of nowhere and easily leaving them curious with her choice in wardrobe. Ordona had said that the people of this village were humble and kind. And mixing with everything else already leaving her an emotional wreck was her own sense of curiosity. What things was this man talking about? What had happened here? 

“She’s too big for Colin’s bed, but we’ll find a place for her.”

“Is that alright with you?” the man, Rusl, asked, raising his torch higher again to better illuminate the area around the three of them again. “The choice, in the end, is yours.”

It was almost funny his mentioning that she had a choice in the matter. Honestly, there was no other choice she had available to her. But, instead of even making the slightest quirk in her mouth to form a smirk she quietly nodded before finally finding her voice again. 

“Sure.”

Uli gave another gentle smile towards the girl and reached her arm around behind Sam’s back. With her other hand resting lightly on Sam’s shoulder she and Rusl guided her towards a house on the far end of the village. It was nestled up against a rise in the earth, and when she was ushered inside Sam saw how it was much roomier than it seemed from the outside. 

The majority of the house was on the main floor, which were various rooms that all ran together. The kitchen was towards the back of the house with a stone chimney rising up beyond the roof to allow any smoke and steam up and out. The rest of the space on the main floor was open to look like a living room, in Sam’s thoughts. A portion of the floor space was cluttered with cradle parts, blankets, and baby clothes in the process of being sewn together. The upper floor was equally open, like a loft. She couldn’t see much from her perspective, but assumed that the beds for the members of the family were located up there. 

“Sweetheart, could you get that spare blanket upstairs? The one I made for our anniversary?” Uli said shortly after the three of them stepped inside. While the man hobbled up, she waddled her way over to a basket full of clothes sitting near a second fireplace, also with a chimney to direct smoke up and out. It had a dying fire crackling amidst the logs, giving off a gentle warmth through the area. 

“I know I had just seen it…” Uli continued, murmuring to herself. She continued to make quiet commentary to herself as she discovered a few articles of clothing, draping them over her arm. After gathering a few she rose back up to her feet, struggling slightly due to her being pregnant, and made her way back to Sam who still stood just past the front door. 

“Here, try these on,” she said, offering the clothes into Sam’s unprepared hands. “You look about the same size I am. Well, was,” she added with a giggle as she patted herself. “You can go on upstairs and try them on there, once Rusl comes back down, so you have some privacy.”

The girl could only numbly nod and do as she was instructed at this point, her mind and emotions still reeling from what had happened to her. She barely registered Rusl’s coming back down the steps from the loft and her own ascending them after him. The entire time she changed out of her wet clothes and into the borrowed wardrobe it was as if it was all some out of body experience, her mind in a haze that wouldn’t clear until she either accepted this was really happening or went into denial by telling herself this was all still a dream. 

It had to be dream, right? No one meets magical creatures in real life and gets transported to another world. It was the stuff of books and movies, but not a person’s actual life. So her mind steadily slipped more towards denial, finding a sense of comfort in the grounding thought that she was going to wake up from all this sometime in the afternoon the following day, having slept in too long from being too lazy the day before.

Her idea that all this was some sort of dream, whether lucid or otherwise, was only solidified further as her clouded mind cleared just enough to really take a moment to look around at her surroundings. Rusl had just walked out the door, the fresh breeze of cool air barely hitting her face as the door closed, and Uli sat at the couch near the fire to resume stitching together fabric. It was finally then, as she was moving past her shock, that a particular detail she overlooked became apparent to her…

While Uli sat with her back to the girl Sam noticed how the woman had pointed ears. 

So there were elves in her dream too? She knew the latest book she was reading didn’t have those. Nor had she seen any movies with characters with such a trait to them. Sam couldn’t help but look at Uli in curiosity, and her gaze must’ve been felt by the woman because she turned from where she sat and beckoned for Sam to come sit at her feet so she could warm herself by the fire. 

“It was Sam, right?”

“Yes.” Her voice was hesitant and soft. 

“Such a peculiar name,” Uli commented as she began to stroke her hands along the wet, messy length of the girl’s hair. A moment later and Sam felt the soft bristles of a brush work their way into her hair, smoothing it from the tips to the roots. “So much about you is peculiar, really.”

“Yet, here I am,” she murmured. 

The woman heard this comment, however, and decided to continue. “It’s not our place to make any assumptions or judgments about you, however odd indeed.” Though Sam couldn’t see the shift in Uli’s expression, she certainly heard the change in her tone. It had gone from being friendly and caring to sad and desperate. “Now isn’t the time for such things.”

“What happened here?” Sam asked. Her voice was still soft and hesitant, doubt still lingering in her mind that all this could possibly be real and actually happening. She looked over her shoulder and finally saw the sad, pained expression on the woman’s face. 

“Creatures…monsters…invaded the village,” Uli said after a few moments of silence. “They took away all the children.” Her voice began to falter and her eyes began to well with oncoming tears. “My son…My little Colin…” She had to draw her hands away from Sam’s hair to cover her trembling lip.

Pity and awkwardness hit at Sam then. She wanted to say something to comfort this woman in her distress, but what could she possibly understand of a child being taken from their parents and being left with the pain of wonder whether that child was still alive or not. Plus, part of her mind was still trying to fully convince her that this was a dream, which made her feel strange to try and reach out to what was possibly only her imagination. 

“I’m so sorry,” were the only words she managed to draw from her lips.

Despite the threat of openly crying over the worry she had for her son Uli managed to regain enough of her composure to smile again. Her eyes remained glossy with the tears she didn’t quite shed and her lip still trembled but it was still an attempt. “Thank you. We’re all shaken by what happened. But, we’re hoping that they’ll find their way back home.”

“Can’t you send out a search party to find them?”

“Not with the possibility of those monsters still lurking about,” Uli replied while gently shaking her head. With a sigh that was meant to further calm her still rattled nerves she resumed brushing through Sam’s hair. “And none of us, save for my husband, know how to fight. Link knows too, but he disappeared with the other children.”

Silence fell between the two women again, and it lasted this time. Uli was content to focus on her task, but Sam’s mind was still trying to work its way through everything she had gone through within the past hour or two. She was a missing child too, now, wasn’t she, she realized to herself. Taken away by something unusual, frightening even, and left to wonder if she would ever see her home again or remain lost. 

Like Uli’s lip had trembled when she was becoming burdened with emotion, so too did Sam’s own. A quiet whimper escaped her throat and she soon had to bring her hands up to her face to try and both hide and silence her sorrow. Tears welled and spilled down her cheeks in a stream that refused to lessen, leaving her sobbing, torn once again between denial and acceptance. Under her breath Sam prayed she’d wake up soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm open for [ Portrait Commissions! ](http://jarofmayonnaise.tumblr.com/post/175431863148/portrait-commissions-open)
> 
> Leave me a message~


	3. Blue-Eyed Beast

She didn’t wake up. Not to her own bedroom, her own home, or her own life. What she’d thought she’d dreamed up the night before was all still there when she opened her eyes again the following morning. Despite how much she wanted to cry again in her anger and disbelief she’d spent them all the night before while she had tried to fall asleep, and she only managed to do that by exhausting herself from the power of the emotion that overwhelmed her and her struggling to keep her mournful sobs quiet while Rusl and Uli slept. 

Thus, Sam was as tired as she was right then as she had been when she laid down the night before. She did lay still for a bit longer, even after Uli gently nudged her awake, listening to the sound of the woman moving about the house and Rusl’s occasional snore since he was allowed to sleep in. None of it seemed fair to her, that even though their lives had been thrown off balance by the events prior to her appearance they still had the benefit of trying to adjust while in the comfort of their homes. She didn’t. Sam had been uprooted from everything she knew and understood and forced into a situation that made less and less sense the more she thought about it. 

The young woman shared breakfast with Uli and did her part to clean up, used to that much of a routine while she was on break with her own mother. The eleven woman appreciated the help and returned the favor by styling Sam’s hair in an intricate braiding style she, herself, wouldn’t have been able to do. 

“Ilia never let herself have long enough hair for this,” Uli commented. 

“Who’s Ilia?” Sam asked, though she recognized it as one of the names called out when she entered the village. 

“Mayor Bo’s daughter. She disappeared with the rest of the children.”

Neither said much after that since the topic quickly turned somber. It was only lightened somewhat when Uli completed her task and allowed Sam to stroke her hand down the length of her hair and feel the weaves the woman had put into it. 

“Why not go outside and look around the village?” Uli then suggested, resting her hand lightly on Sam’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t want you cooped up in here all day.”

Part of her wondered why that mattered. She was still in denial and still believed that all this was going to fade from her eyes like the dream she wanted it to be, but the other part of her figured why not indulge in the fantasy while it lasted? She could retell her parents how strange all this was once she woke up. So, she nodded, thanked Uli for her kind gesture with her hair, and went out the door to wander for a while. 

Seeing the village in daylight was a far different view compared to her having only seen it in the evening light before. The grasses grew light and lush with reeds and other such plants standing taller than the rest of the flora. Wildflowers sprouted here and there, adding additional color to every other spot she looked toward. The soles of her borrowed sandals crunched softly beneath the exposed dirt where paths had been forged through the grass itself, weaving in and out of the village and between the huts and houses scattered about. The other men of the village were outside as well, one of which was crouched in the gourd patch Sam had seen last night. It looked like he was weeding the little field. 

Her walk led her around the bend of the village, back the path she had taken previously when she first entered Ordon. To her surprise she found a treehouse situated separately from the rest of the homes of the village. It looked like it had used the main structure of the tree and then hollowed out the inside to create the interior, from what she could guess from the outside. A door had been carved into the bark, along with windows, and at the base of the tree were what looked like hatches into a basement area. She had completely overlooked this house when she first stumbled into the village, and now wondered who it was that lived here. With only herself for company, and thus nobody to give her an answer, she was left to wonder as she turned around and headed back towards the heart of Ordon. 

She followed the main path back towards Rusl and Uli’s house but took a turn along the way. The slight bend in the path led her further towards the back of the village, past another sturdy house situated on the edge of a creek that fed into the pond nearby, and up a steep hill to an open field that looked to be a pasture of some sort. Though the field looked large enough for a far greater number of animals, the only ones she saw were a half dozen goats with oddly circular horns. They reminded her of the Light Spirit Ordona. Grazing among the goats were only two horses. 

Watching the animals graze, just as she was, was a tall and broad figure leaning against the open doors to a large barn. Even from the distance she was at she could tell that his movements told of sadness. Had something happened to the animals too, and not just the youth of the village? As if he sensed her watching him the man looked over in her direction and put on as best a positive smile as he could while beckoning her over.

“You must be the stranger that walked in last night.”

“Yeah. The name’s Sam.”

“Sam. Interesting name for an interesting looking young lady,” he commented. Still bearing his friendly smile he reached out his hand for her to shake. “Name’s Fado, I look after the ranch here. Well, what’s left of it.”

“So there were more animals here,” Sam murmured, returning the gesture. 

“Aye, there were. Small herd of horses I’ve been breeding for some years now. Had a near two dozen more goats too.”

“Why so many?”

“Rusl’s got his hand in blacksmithing, so he’s able to sell off whatever he forges. But the main thing our little village brings to the rest of Hyrule is good and fresh goat milk and cheese.” So that’s why breakfast tasted a little different that morning. 

“Now, I don’t want to seem like I’m imposing, but would you mind giving me a hand in rounding up the animals soon? I usually have Link to help out, but since and the kids have disappeared…”

“Everyone keeps mentioning him. Who is this Link guy?” Sam blurted out without really thinking. She caught herself too late and audibly clicked her mouth shut and pursed her lips, suddenly looking sheepish. 

Fado, however, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he let out a low chuckle as his broad, muscled shoulders rose and fell with his amusement. “Link’s an orphan boy who settled himself here in Ordon only a few years go. Just showed up one day, kind of like you did, and ever since then he’s been the helping hand everybody wants and needs around the village. Boy’s always looking for something to do, so whenever he’s not practicing smithing with Rusl, or sparring with him, he’s out here helping out on the ranch.” 

A goat strolled up to Fado as he spoke and he lowered one hand to let the creature sniff at his fingers and palm before attempting to nibble at his hand. The tall elf merely smiled in amusement and gave an affectionate rub to the goat’s head. The goat’s interest quickly turned to the hem of the girl’s sleeveless tunic and tried to nibble on that instead. Sam remained looking thoughtful even after he was done talking, gently nudging the goat away by its circular horns. She continued to watch it as it lazily strolled back out towards the field with the few others that were still there grazing. 

If this were still a dream of some sort, at least this part of it was more bearable. Or, if she’d just gone crazy somehow, the scene before her made her think that there was some sense of sanity left within her mind, to conjure up a quiet farm in an equally quiet settlement. Perhaps, if things stayed this way, it wouldn’t be so bad until she finally came back to reality. 

“Sure, I’ll help,” she said. 

It took Fado a moment to understand her words, but then he let out a sigh of relief. “You ever helped with animals before?”

“I’ve ridden a horse before, but that was years ago.” Sam was reminded of the one time her parents took her out to go horseback riding on the beach. Though she lived on the shore, that particular stretch of beach was reserved for individual homes and their respective properties. They had a take a trip to be able to go riding along the water, and she could recall the sway of the horse under the saddle and her preteen self being just so giddy over the whole experience. 

“Then you can help guide the horses back in and stable them. I’ll handle the goats.”

Fado handed her the rope he used as the lead for the horses and pointed towards the only two remaining horses in the field—Lugh and Rhian—before strolling out towards the goats and getting them herded together with a series of whistles and calls. 

Sam made her way over to the dapple-grey mare Fado pointed out to her first, Rhian. The mare’s ears perked forward and she brought her head up to watch the young woman as she approached. Because it had been a number of years since Sam had been around horses her gestures were hesitant, though she remembered to hold her palm out to allow the horse to take in her scent and know she wasn’t a threat before looping the thin rope through the harness hanging loosely off the mare's muzzle. She didn’t put up any fuss and bobbed her head up and down as Sam guided her towards the stable. Along the short walk Sam got nudged by her and offered a few strokes to the horse’s velvety nose, though even after she pulled her hand away Rhian remained walking close and nudging the girl a few more times before they reached their destination. 

Fado noticed the mare’s behavior and let out a quiet chuckle at the sight. “She seems to like you quite a bit,” he commented.

“I don’t know why, either,” she replied, obliging the mare and stroking Rhian’s snout another time. 

“Might be because you seem similar to Ilia. She’s often here helping with the horses too. Mostly Epona though. That mare’s always been her favorite.”

Sam made no comment back at that, choosing instead to give a hum and shrug, before guiding Rhian to the stable Fado pointed out was hers. She would have guided the horse into her proper place on her own had she been able to read the strange writing that labeled each stall. She narrowed her eyes, as if the act of squinting would make her suddenly able to read it, though she had to admit that the longer she looked at it the more it seemed similar to English. Which then made her wonder: how was she speaking with these people if their written language was foreign? 

She shook her head as she guided Rhian into her stall and slid the guide rope away from her harness. Why did it matter? She was being delusional, all this was made up, and she would wake up eventually. Everything around her and happening to her was all just some passing dream that would go away, so there was no point in bringing up questions that didn’t need to be answered. 

It was getting tiring, however, waiting for the moment when she’d wake up to her own life. This couldn’t go on forever, unless she’d somehow slipped into a coma. This had to end soon. It had to.

∙ ∙ ∙

The rest of her day continued along at the same calm pace as the village and its inhabitants. She spoke with the man who had been tending to his garden patch and learned how Ordon managed to stay self-sufficient on the hearty crops grown in it and the produce provided by Fado and his animals. By the end of her conversation she was gifted a ripe pumpkin to bring back to Rusl and Uli, along with the man’s well-wishes to Uli and her coming child.

She also made her way out of the village another time, passing by the empty treehouse, and returning to the pool where she had first met Ordona. She ended up wading ankle deep in the water waiting for the Spirit to appear to her, but when there was nothing to greet her save for the rustle of the leaves in the wind and the gentle ripple of the pool, she sighed in disappointment and made her way back again. She purposefully ignored the strange black wall past the bridge. 

When Sam returned to Rusl and Uli’s house she found the woman happy to accept the gift of the pumpkin from her neighbor and immediately went on about which recipe she could use for the gourd and what to accompany the meal idea with it. Uli’s husband, however, had yet to make himself known in the house, and Sam soon learned that he was off in his workshop just off to the side of the house working on a new design for a blade. 

Prepping and making dinner was a workout for the young woman as she helped in the process. Back and forth she went from the fire to the small space right next to it that served as a kind of kitchen, grabbing spices and herbs that Uli pointed out, or carving up and scooping out the pumpkin of its innards. The task did become easier, however, once Rusl came in and washed up before doing his part in preparing the meal. Once it was done the house was filled with quiet conversation between the husband, wife, and guest, though it was mostly chatter between Rusl and Uli. Sam did speak up when she was asked a question, but she held her tongue for the most part and resumed hoping to herself that when she’d fall asleep tonight she would wake up in her own bed and back in her own life. 

Just like the night before Sam didn’t wake up to what she wanted. In fact, she was roused early from her sleep by an unexpected visitor. 

A maned wolf had managed to undo the latch to the house and paw the door open before slipping inside. There were many familiar scents within the house, which put the beast at ease though there was still hesitation with its every step. But as it sniffed the air there was a new smell which piqued both its curiosity and its wariness. The wolf followed the foreign scent a little further into the house until it came to a form near the fireplace, semi-hidden under a blanket it recognized.

A mess of light blonde hair stuck out from past the edge of the blanket, along with a sleeping face of a young woman. The wolf’s ears twitched before they perked forward, showing its heightened interest, as it dared to step closer to her. Upon closer inspection it spotted the rounded shape of the woman’s ears and bowed its head to sniff in curiosity.

Sam was asleep enough to have missed the entrance of the wolf and its padding around the house, but she was still awake enough to sense when something was close. She felt breaths in her ear and grumbled as she brought her hand up to swat away whatever was there. When she brushed against something both fuzzy and damp she startled awake, and then gasped in fear as her eyes met those of a wild animal. 

The wolf snorted and backed away but didn’t growl at her, like she thought it might. She remained staring at the beast and found that it, too, stared straight back at her. Beyond the startlingly blue eyes it bore she could see intelligence and it made her breath catch. Sam didn’t dare to move for fear that it might suddenly lunge at her, though she also half expected it to speak to her. Still believing that all this was some sort of fever dream it wasn’t so strange a thought to anticipate talking animals at this point. But the wolf didn’t lunge, not for her. Its jaws snapped at the sword Rusl had kept strapped to himself earlier that night when he did his patrols around the village and bounded out the door with it. 

“Hey, wait!” she called out, rolling out of the blanket and staring out the open door on all fours. A sword stealing wolf? This really had to all be in her head. What would a wolf want with a sword? What could it even do with it? A strange sense of curiosity gripped at Sam, as well as some frustration at the idea that a wild animal managed to get inside the house and make off something. She strapped her borrowed sandals on as quickly as she could and took off after it. 

The village was quiet as she ran along its path as best she could in the dark, though she had a few stars and a sliver of moonlight to illuminate her way. Night bugs hummed and chirped, filling the air, and the only sound that was out of place by that natural harmony was the metallic clinking sound in front of her. Was it the wolf? She hadn’t looked at it well enough to notice all the details about it in her panic. 

Only after she made the turn towards the empty treehouse did she catch a glimpse of its form disappearing again into the trees. “Where are you going?” Sam huffed between breaths as she continued her chase after it, following the clinking sound it seemed to be making as it ran through the woods. 

She followed the sound past the gates to Ordona’s pool and along the length of the bridge, but she stopped in her tracks once she crossed to the other side and saw the wolf push its way past the black and foreboding wall and disappear past it. She needed a moment to both catch her breath as well as wrap her head around what just happened within the past few minutes. She had just given chase to a wolf that snuck into Rusl and Uli’s house just for their sword and had then bolted out the village to vanish beyond this strange wall. 

Still panting she dared to approach the blackness, watching as unknown symbols in a dull orange color glowed more intensely the closer she came to it. The air seemed to still the closer to came to it as well, being left with only an eerie silence which made the presence of the wall feel that much more intimidating. Sam reached her hand out to the wall and barely tapped at it with her fingertip. The blackness rippled like it was water though the motion was slow—like syrup. She reached out again and, this time, pressed her palm into it. Her hand sank into it and the feeling it left against her skin made her recoil with a hiss. 

She rubbed at her hand to try and work the strange sensation out of her skin as she stared at the wall for a little longer. “This has to be a dream. This has to be a dream. This has to be a dream,” she chanted to herself. Whether it was meant to be a reminder of what this all was, or some attempt to continue convincing herself otherwise, she didn’t know. She let out a long breath as she steeled herself and stepped towards the blackness once more. Then, taking a deep breath like she was about to plunge under water, she brought her hands in front of her and pushed past it, disappearing beyond it like the wolf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm open for [ Portrait Commissions! ](http://jarofmayonnaise.tumblr.com/post/175431863148/portrait-commissions-open)
> 
> Leave me a message~


	4. The Vessel in Twilight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead, and neither is this story! My schedule's just more busy nowadays, plus I'm seriously in too deep in FFXIV @_@ The story still continues, just at a slower pace.

The sight Sam found past the black wall was nothing like she would have imagined. She expected a grim and bleak place on a level of horror to that of hell itself, but instead it just looked like a continuation of the forest. The major difference to it, however, was that everywhere she looked there was a golden haze. It was oddly beautiful, but the shadows it cast on everything were deeper, darker, the kind of darkness that might hide something dangerous. Like she had done when she first looked upon the black wall Sam shivered. 

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she took tentative steps deeper into this strange shift, noticing how despite how everything had the conflicting appearance of both beautiful and dangerous, there was also a sensation of emptiness. It felt _wrong_ to be there. But that wasn’t the only thing wrong about that place. Sam noticed small glimmers and sparks of light around her as she moved, and she yelped in surprise when she looked down at herself. 

Sam looked human, but only in general shape. The rest of her was a swirling mixture of bright colored greens, blues, and the occasional purple and magenta. For a second she found it hard to breathe when she realized what she looked like—an aurora. 

The young woman took tentative steps further into this strange shift in realms, holding her arms close to her body and nervously playing with her fingers as if the gesture would reassure her in some way. “H-hello?” she half-heartedly called out. A second later she swallowed and called out again, urging her voice to be louder and stronger the second time. “Is anyone here?”

Though she saw the wolf disappear into this place she currently saw no trace of it. But, distracting her from wondering where the beast could possibly be were mournful notes that hung heavy in the air. She swallowed, the gesture more an attempt to swallow down her hesitation and nervousness than anything else, and she stepped deeper into the golden hazed forest as she followed the sound. 

She was startled again, however, when from the shadows emerged a single strange creature that she didn’t know how to explain to even herself. It crawled on all fours, bearing a large stone-like mask with odd, angular markings. It even made sounds unlike any she’d heard before and it made her shudder. It stalked towards her like a predatory animal having caught onto its prey before it would lunge to make the kill which made Sam step back further and further in a futile attempt to keep her distance from it. 

With an eerily human-like shriek from it, it lept towards her, oversized hands with too long of fingers spread wide to bring the girl into its clutches. Like it had done Sam shrieked in panic and fear. If this was all still in her head, then the pleasant dream she had been experiencing within Ordon Village finally turned into a nightmare. But before the dark beast could grab her another form leapt from the side with a snarl and latched onto its back. 

The beast cried out, this time in pain, as a maned wolf bit and clawed at it. Had Sam any visible eyes in her current form they would have widened upon her realizing that the wolf was the same that had stole into Rusl and Uli’s house before making off with the sword. However, though the wolf struggled to stay clinging to the trashing back of the dark colored creature, sitting atop the wolf as another, smaller figure. Sam skittered away to keep her distance when the monster finally dropped to the ground and suddenly burst into countless black squares that twitched about for a second or two before retreating into the shadows. 

“Well well,” came a delicate little voice that had overtones of smugness. “You’re unexpected.”

With her panic fading she was able to better take in the details of the figure she had spotted before. What appeared to be an imp sat on the back of the wolf, its body covered in black and white markings. One of its large and brightly colored eyes was covered by a strange stone headpiece that didn’t look too different from the one she’d seen on the monster. The imp bore a smirk equally as smug looking as the tone in its—her—voice. 

“What are you? What is this place? Where am I?” The questions spilled out of Sam’s mouth faster than she could stop them. 

“That’s a few concerns you have, but none of them in the right place. You should be more worried about any more of those shadow beasts coming after you. You seem too much like a Light Spirit.”

Sam somehow managed to keep her buckling knees from bringing her to the ground at the imp’s words. Light Spirit. That’s what Ealis had called himself before he suddenly taking her into this place, to Hyrule. And her appearance… He had given her his light and made her his vessel, just as he had also said. The girl stumbled back into a tree to steady herself. She really was in a nightmare now if she was in danger from more of those _things_. 

“I need to get out of here,” she said, her breathing getting hard for her as panic returned and made her heart hammer in her chest. 

“The Twilight will let you in,” started the imp as the wolf looked behind itself for a moment then turned around as if to trot off deeper into the forest. “But it won’t let you out.”

“I need to get out of here!” Sam cried out before clapping her hands over her mouth. It wasn’t to try and silence her sudden outburst, but an attempt to contain the fear and uncertainty that was building inside her. 

“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up,” she softly began to chant to herself in hopes that her words and her will to have this all end would make it so. When she opened her eyes again she saw that she was still within the nightmare of a forest, the golden haze still hanging heavy and the shadows still too dark and too deep. 

Sam slid down the tree until she ended up sitting at its roots, her hands clamped around her mouth, so she wouldn’t start weeping again. None of this was real, it just couldn’t be. Maybe she hadn’t reached the worst of the nightmare yet, and when she did she’d startle awake and be back in the reality where she belonged. The thought gave her some sense of comfort. 

She brought her gaze back up and saw that the wolf, which had previously turned around as if to walk off with the imp atop it, turned back and had approached her though it kept a small distance from her. For a second time she looked into those startlingly blue eyes, saw the intelligence there, and felt it hard to breathe for a second. 

“Do you _really_ want her to tag along?” asked the imp as she leaned back with her arms behind her head. 

The wolf looked back towards her and gave a nod of its head. 

Sam blinked in surprise at it actually replying. “You…You understand us?” she asked. 

The wolf brought its eyes back towards her and nodded its head again. 

The girl realized that this was either a highly intelligent creature…or was no wolf at all. 

Regardless, Sam knew that she couldn’t stay in one place. Not here, not with those creatures still about and the possibility of running into another one like the imp had implied. She shivered and rubbed her arms to try and massage the sensation out of herself (though she didn’t notice the tiny sparks of light leave her form as she did so) as she rose to her feet again before she took cautious steps behind the wolf. As she followed along her attention swiveled back and forth, searching the shadows that they passed by, expecting another of those beasts to emerge from them at any moment. Her growing paranoia combined with the mournful notes she heard before made her believe all the more firmly that she had transitioned into some sort of hellish nightmare. 

The little imp that rode atop the wolf had a haughty air to her, trying to make herself seem more impressive and important than she currently looked. To Sam, however, she just looked strange especially with the stone headdress she wore. Sam couldn’t help but wonder how the imp didn’t just topple over at any given moment by the weight of it. 

In her distraction of observing the imp the girl nearly missed seeing a glimmer of light out of the corner of her eye. A thin streak of colored light was left in her wake as she turned her head to take a better look at what it was. 

The source turned out to be something that looked more like a star than anything else she could describe. It was a single, pure light that pierced the dim glow of this realm—Twilight, as the imp called it, while floating in midair. But even it was strange as that same light occasionally gathered in on itself like condensation on a drinking glass and dripping down to the ground like water. Where those droplets fell revealed a patch of earth and grass that wasn’t touched by the golden light and its shadows. It was like the twilight was a layer added on top of what was originally there. 

Out of curiosity Sam slowly reached out her hand, palm up, to catch a drip of that pure light as it fell. A droplet as large as her thumbnail splashed onto her hand. Had the girl visible eyes in her current form they would have widened upon seeing her natural skin tone and solidity returned to normal. She was dumbfounded for a moment as she simply stared down at her palm, but in another bout of curiosity she reached with her other hand and poked at her skin. The spot where she touched returned to the light-based shape the rest of her was, leaving only a small sliver of a ring of her actual self. It was something both fascinating and frightening to her. 

Sam nearly threw herself under the light to try and shower herself with every drop, but she froze in terror when she heard the same shrieking sound from before. Her knees buckled under her, nearly causing her to lose her balance, and her suddenly panicking mind screamed at her to stay put or run away. 

The wolf, however, bared its teeth and began to let out a low growl from its throat as its fur bristled. The imp also steadied herself, hunkering low into the wolf’s fur as her visible eye narrowed. 

The shadow beast was the same as the last one in every way save for one detail. The glowing, geometrical shapes covering its body weren’t the angry red color the last one was; instead, the same glow of light that Sam had been so fascinated by flowed through those shapes and even through the etchings on the stone mask the creature bore. 

“Another one with the stolen light,” the imp muttered. Sam could hear the smirk in her tone. 

“Stolen light?” she questioned.

Sam didn’t get her answer right away due to the shadow beast lunging for the wolf and initiating a battle between them. 

Its oversized hand with its too-long fingers lashed out and swatted at the air, missing the wolf each time it tried to attack. The wolf, in return, would swipe at it with its own claws. Or, if the beast stumbled, it would leap forward and snap its jaws to leave a nasty bite as it snarled. Though, once or twice, the animal did get hit and yelped pitifully as it tumbled against the earth before managing to pull itself back onto its paws.

Not long into the fight the shadow beast seemed to lose interest in its losing fight with the wolf and instead snapped its covered face towards Sam. Perhaps it finally noticed the light she gave off after a beat of not focusing on the animal, perhaps it decided she was the easier target. Regardless of why it bounded towards her with another one of its spine-chilling cries. 

Caught by surprise by the sudden shift in the fight, as well as paralyzed by the fear that gripped her just as quickly, she stood dumbly in place before a scream escaped her and she waited for the inevitable impact. It never came.

The shadow beast was brought to the ground as the wolf lunged for it from behind and bit, hard, into its neck. In its own surprise the creature shrieked as it flailed its arms in a weak attempt to try and grab the wolf and fling it away. But, the animal continued to bite and snap at it while the imp held it down. Sam felt like her mouth as agape as she watched the imp manipulate what looked to be her hair into a hand shape, keeping the creature pinned to the ground. 

An audible crunch sound made Sam shudder and the shadow beast finally sent limp before bursting into countless squares, like the last one had. But, not only did the beast leave behind those odd shapes, but also a light like the one the trio had found earlier. 

“What are these things?” Sam asked as she approached the light and let a single drip fall into her palm again. Despite how strange it was to see a small part of herself return to normal, it also brought a wistful expression to her face. 

“The spirit here had its light stolen by those creatures,” the imp replied with a huff. Her tone was similar to a typical, rebellious teen who didn’t want to bother explaining something but still had to anyway. “That’s a piece of it.”

If any of this was real, could this have been why Ealis was so bound and determined to have her sent away? To preserve the light it bore? But, if so, then why send her to a place like this that seems even more dangerous than Earth? Sam had to shake the questions and curiosities from her head. She still held onto the belief that this was all some crazy dream so anytime those questions came into her mind she had to quickly dismiss them as pointless. 

During her internal argument the imp and the wolf continued their way through the forest, nearly leaving the girl behind if she hadn’t sensed movement and came back to herself to notice them walking away. 

Although the imp always had an attitude and a snarky roll of her visible eye every time Sam asked a question as they moved through the forest she always answered the girl’s questions anyway. She also informed her that her name was Midna. 

Midna explained that she and the wolf—the hero as she called it him—were restoring the tears of the light spirit so that this piece of Hyrule could return to normal. Sam understood that much, since this Twilight place was beyond unnatural even for her. But, when the girl made mention of that Midna was quick to comment how the Twilight wasn’t that strange. Rather, it was like the shadow cast upon something being exposed to light. It simply was an extension of how Hyrule and its world was. 

“But you’re not from here or there, are you?” the imp asked with a devious smirk across her face and a narrowing of her eye as she looked over her shoulder at Sam. 

Her steps stalled for a brief moment before she urged herself to keep going and follow the two as usual. The villagers of Ordon had only considered her strange but none seemed able to discern why, whereas Midna picked up on it shortly after encountering her. The girl wondered if she ought to try and cover her tracks, since she wasn’t particularly enjoying the imp’s company, but another part of her told her to just go ahead and admit the truth. Trying to hide it from this figure seemed pointless now, plus what use was her sense of caution if none of this was real anyway? 

“No,” Sam replied. “I’m from…far away. Another world, I guess.”

“And yet you bear light similar to the ones here,” Midna continued. “I wonder if there’s a Twilight-like realm to it too,” she went on, her voice turning into a murmur as she looked away, genuinely curious as she thought over that. 

“I doubt it,” the girl retorted as she picked up her pace to stride along with the wolf and look down at Midna. Though she tried to give a glare towards her, her light-shaped form lacked any expression and thus made her attempt a fruitless one. “There’s so such thing on Earth.”

Midna’s visible eye went half-lidded, making her own expression create a bored one. Sam bristled at how the imp looked at her as if she were stupid. “Earth is it then? And just because you can’t see the effect of one realm with another doesn’t mean that it’s not there. The Twilight realm doesn’t usually interact with the realm of Light like this, but here it is all the same.” She then sneered at the girl, daring her to try and fight that. 

Sam couldn’t figure out a comeback to that, and it only made her even more agitated. 

The imp giggled as she let her head tilt back while looking smug. “I knew she shouldn’t be tagging along. She’s useless.” 

The jab was stated so matter-of-factly that it made Sam stop in her tracks this time and look down at the ground before raising her hand to look at her palm. Harsh as it was Midna was right—there were beasts here and dangers that she wasn’t prepared for, along with whatever else this weird realm had to throw at her. She didn’t know how to fight back, she didn’t know if she even _could_. 

“I’m not sure why I followed, either,” she admitted. “I’m not sure why all of this is happening to me. Why it has to be _me_. I’m nothing special.”

“Well, at least you’re aware of your shortcomings,” Midna jibed. 

“Shut up,” Sam hissed. 

Midna actually did go quiet again, but the girl doubted it was because she listened to her command. It was more likely that the imp was pleased enough to have riled her so and chose to let her stew in her frustration. 

That same frustration festered as the trio wandered through the forest, searching out more monsters bearing stolen light. Midna and the wolf would be the ones to engage in combat with them while Sam wound up hiding, both out of fear as well as uncertainty in how to even help them. And, if their previous encounter was anything to learn from, she was likely to be attacked first if she tried to join in anyway.

As she kept herself hidden she purposefully chose to keep her gaze away from the fight, instead leaving herself with only the sound of combat. The snarling of the wolf and the cries of the shadow monsters usually left her holding herself in an attempt to bring some sense of comfort though the insanity that was this situation she was in now. 

A nightmare was all this was. She couldn’t bear to believe otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter actually continued on after where I ended it, but I felt I should pause it there and turn the next section into the following chapter.


End file.
